Certified Green Restaurant

St. Andrew’s Café is a Certified Green Restaurant®!

When you dine with us, you’ll not only enjoy delicious, locally and sustainably sourced cuisine—you’ll be supporting a healthy planet, too. In December 2009, St. Andrew’s Café earned the Two Star Certified Green Restaurant® seal from the Green Restaurant Association (GRA). A national non-profit consultancy founded in 1990, the GRA’s mission is to create an environmentally sustainable restaurant industry.

We’re the First!

St. Andrew’s is pleased to be the first restaurant in Dutchess County—and at the time of Certification, one of only six in New York State outside New York City—to have earned the GRA’s Certification.

Certified Green Restaurant® Requirements

To become a Two Star Certified Green Restaurant®, St. Andrew’s Café met the following criteria:

• Earn a total of 100 points, with a minimum of 10 points in six of the GRA’s seven environmental categories:
  • Energy
  • Water efficiency
  • Waste reduction and recycling
  • Disposables
  • Chemical and pollution reduction
  • Sustainable food
  • Sustainable furnishings and building materials (optional category)
• Have a full-scale recycling program.
• Be free of polystyrene foam (a.k.a. Styrofoam).
• Fulfill an annual education requirement.

What We’re Doing to Help the Environment

Here are just a few of the green practices St. Andrew’s has undertaken that helped us earn the Green Restaurant Association’s certification. Because of the CIA’s longtime commitment to green initiatives, and the GRA’s emphasis on continuous improvement, we’re adding to this list all the time.

• We source from local and regional farms and food producers in support of our commitment to food production sustainability.
• We recycle cardboard, paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, grease, and food waste.
• We serve water upon request to help conserve this precious resource.
• We replaced purchased bottled water with the Natura® system, which takes regular tap water and purifies it into still and sparkling water. In addition, Natura bottles are reusable.
• We employ a composting program for leftover food.
• We use linen tablecloths, napkins, side towels, and polishing cloths, as well as reusable cutlery, plates, and glasses.
• We don’t use any Styrofoam™ products. “To-go” containers are made of cardboard, and no condiments are offered in individual packets.
• We use an electrolyzed water technology-based system (ElectroCide) for environmentally safe cleaning and sanitizing.
• Our walk-in refrigerator has a strip curtain, our water heater is insulated, and the facility has a programmable thermostat—all designed to conserve energy.
• We have low-water landscaping featuring native plants and other elements, including ornamental grasses, red and yellow twig dogwoods, and viburnums, that help conserve water.